The Lord our Righteousness
by
George Whitefield
(1714-1770)

Jeremiah 23:6 - "The Lord our Righteousness."

Whoever is acquainted with the nature of mankind in general, or the
propensity of his own heart in particular, must acknowledge, that self-
righteousness is the last idol that is rooted out of the heart: being once
born under a covenant of works, it is natural for us all to have recourse
to a covenant of works, for our everlasting salvation. And we have
contracted such devilish pride, by our fall from God, that we would, if not
wholly, yet in part at least, glory in being the cause of our own
salvation. We cry out against popery, and that very justly; but we are all
Papists, at least, I am sure, we are all Arminians by nature; and therefore
no wonder so many natural men embrace that scheme. It is true, we disclaim
the doctrine of merit, are ashamed directly to say we deserve any good at
the hands of God; therefore, as the Apostle excellently well observes, "we
go about," we fetch a circuit, "to establish a righteousness of our own,
and," like the Pharisees of old, "will not wholly submit to that
righteousness which is of God through Jesus Christ our Lord."

This is the sorest, though, alas! the most common evil that was ever
yet seen under the sun. An evil, that in any age, especially in these dregs
of time wherein we live, cannot sufficiently be inveighed against. For as
it is with the people, so it is with the priests; and it is to be feared,
even in those places, where once the truth as it is in Jesus was eminently
preached, many ministers are so sadly degenerated from their pious
ancestors, that the doctrines of grace, especially the personal, ALL-
SUFFICIENT RIGHTEOUSNESS of Jesus, is but too seldom, too slightly
mentioned. Hence the love of many waxeth cold; and I have often thought,
was it possible, that this single consideration would be sufficient to
raise our venerable forefathers again from their graves; who would thunder
in their ears their fatal error.

The righteousness of Jesus Christ is one of those great mysteries,
which the angels desire to look into, and seems to be one of the first
lessons that God taught men after the fall. For, what were the coats that
God made to put on our first parents, but types of the application of the
merits of righteousness of Jesus Christ to believers hearts? We are told,
that those coats were made of skins of beasts; and, as beasts were not then
food for men, we may fairly infer, that those beasts were slain in
sacrifice, in commemoration of the great sacrifice, Jesus Christ,
thereafter to be offered. And the skins of the beasts thus slain, being put
on Adam and Eve, they were hereby taught how their nakedness was to be
covered with the righteousness of the Lamb of God.

This is it which is meant, when we are told, "Abraham believed on the
Lord, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." In short, this is it
of which both the law and the prophets have spoken, especially Jeremiah in
the words of the text, "The Lord our righteousness."

I propose, through divine grace,

I. To consider who we are to understand by the word Lord.

II. How the Lord is man's righteousness.

III. I will consider some of the chief objections that are generally
urged against this doctrine.

IV. I shall show some very ill consequences that flow naturally from
denying this doctrine.

V Shall conclude with an exhortation to all to come to Christ by
faith, that they may be enabled to say with the prophet in the text, "The
Lord our righteousness."

I. I am to consider who we are to understand by the word Lord. The
Lord our righteousness.

If any Arians of Socinians are drawn by curiosity to hear what the
babbler has to say, let them be ashamed of denying the divinity of that
Lord, who has bought poor sinners with his precious blood. For the person
mentioned in the text, under the character of the Lord, is Jesus Christ.
Ver. 5, "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto
David a righteous branch, a king shall reign and prosper, and shall execute
judgment and justice in the earth. In his days (ver. 6) Judah shall be
saved, and Israel shall dwell safely; and this is his name whereby he shall
be called, The Lord our righteousness." By the righteous branch, all agree,
that we are to understand Jesus Christ. He it is that is called the Lord in
our text. If so, if there were no other text in the Bible to prove the
divinity of Christ, this is sufficient: for if the word Lord may properly
belong to Jesus Christ, he must be God. And, as you have it in the margin
of your Bibles, the word Lord is in the original Jehovah, which is the
essential title of God himself. Come then, ye Arians, kiss the son of God,
bow down before him, and honor him, even as ye honor the Father. Learn of
the angels, those morning-stars, and worship him as truly God: for
otherwise you are as much idolaters, as those that worship the Virgin Mary.
And as for you Socinians, who say Christ was a mere man, and yet profess
that he was your Savior, according to your own principles you are accursed:
for, if Christ be a mere man, then he is only an arm of flesh: and it is
written, "Cursed is he that trusteth on an arm of flesh." But I would hope,
there are no such monsters here; at least, that, after these
considerations, they would be ashamed of broaching such monstrous
absurdities any more. For it is plain, that, by the word Lord, we are to
understand the Lord Jesus Christ, who here takes to himself the title
Jehovah, and therefore must be very God of very God; or, as the Apostle
devoutly expresses it, "God blessed for evermore."

II. How the Lord is to be man's righteousness, comes next to be
considered.

And that is, in one word, by IMPUTATION. For it pleased God, after he
had made all things by the word of his power, to create man after his own
image. And so infinite was the condescension of the high and lofty One, who
inhabiteth eternity, that, although he might have insisted on the
everlasting obedience of him and his posterity; yet he was pleased to
oblige himself, by a covenant or agreement made with his own creatures,
upon condition of an unsinning obedience, to give them immortality and
eternal life. For when it is said, "The day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt
surely die;" we may fairly infer, so long as he continued obedient, and did
not eat thereof, he should surely live. The 3rd of Genesis gives us a full,
but mournful account, how our first parents broke this covenant, and
thereby stood in need of a better righteousness than their own, in order to
procure their future acceptance with God. For what must they do? They were
as much under a covenant of works as ever. And though, after their
disobedience, they were without strength; yet they were obliged not only to
do, but continue to do all things, and that too in the most perfect manner,
which the Lord had required of them: and not only so, but to make
satisfaction to God's infinitely offended justice, for the breach they had
already been guilty of. Here then opens the amazing scene of DIVINE
PHILANTHROPY; I mean, God's love to man. For behold, what man could not do,
Jesus Christ, the son of his Father's love, undertakes to do for him. And
that God might be just in justifying the ungodly, though "he was in the
form of God, and therefore thought it no robbery to be equal with God; yet
he took upon him the form of a servant," even human nature. In that nature
he obeyed, and thereby fulfilled the whole moral law in our stead; and also
died a painful death upon the cross, and thereby became a curse for, or
instead of, those whom the Father had given to him. As God, he satisfied,
at the same time that he obeyed and suffered as man; and, being God and man
in one person, he wrought out a full, perfect, and sufficient righteousness
for all to whom it was to be imputed.

Here then we see the meaning of the word righteousness. It implies the
active as well as passive obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ. We generally,
when talking of the merits of Christ, only mention the latter,  his
death; whereas, the former,  his life and active obedience, is equally
necessary. Christ is not such a Savior as becomes us, unless we join both
together. Christ not only died, but lived, not only suffered, but obeyed
for, or instead of, poor sinners. And both these jointly make up that
complete righteousness, which is to be imputed to us, as the disobedience
of our first parents was made ours by imputation. In this sense, and no
other, are we to understand that parallel which the apostle Paul draws, in
the 5th of the Romans, between the first and second Adam. This is what he
elsewhere terms, "our being made the righteousness of God in him." This is
the sense wherein the Prophet would have us to understand the words of the
text; therefore, Jer. 33:16, "She (i.e. the church itself) shall be called,
(having this righteousness imputed to her) The Lord our righteousness." A
passage, I think, worthy of the profoundest meditation of all the sons and
daughters of Abraham.

Many are the objections which the proud hearts of fallen men are
continually urging against this wholesome, this divine, this soul saving
doctrine. I come now,

III. To answer some few of those which I think the most considerable.

And, FIRST, they say, because they would appear friends to morality,
"That the doctrine of an imputed righteousness is "destructive of good
works, and leads to licentiousness."

And who, pray, are the persons that generally urge this objection? Are
they men full of faith, and men really concerned for good works? No;
whatever few exceptions there may be, if there be any at all, it is
notorious, they are generally men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning
the faith. The best title I can give them is, that of PROFANE MORALISTS, or
moralists false so called. For I appeal to the experience of the present as
well as past ages, if iniquity did and does not most abound, where the
doctrine of Christ's whole personal righteousness is most cried down, and
most seldom mentioned. Arminian being antichristian principles, always did,
and always will lead to antichristian practices. And never was there a
reformation brought about in the church, but by the preaching the doctrine
of an imputed righteousness. This, as the man of God, Luther, calls it, is
"Artienlus statntis out cedentis Eichlesin," the article by which the
Church stands or falls. And though the preachers of this doctrine are
generally branded by those on the other side, with the opprobrious names of
Antinomians, deceivers, and what not; yet, I believe, if the truth of the
doctrine on both sides was to be judged of by the lives of the preachers of
professors of it, on our side the question would have the advantage every
way.

It is true, this, as well as every other doctrine of grace, may be
abused. And perhaps the unchristian walk of some, who have talked of
Christ's imputed righteousness, justification by faith, and the like, and
yet never felt it imputed to their own souls, has given the enemies of the
Lord thus cause to blaspheme. But this is a very unsafe, as well as a very
unfair way of arguing. The only question should be, Whether or not this
doctrine of an imputed righteousness, does in itself cut off the occasion
of good works, or lean to licentiousness? To this we may boldly answer, In
no wise. It excludes works, indeed, from being any cause of our
justification in the sight of God; but it requires good works as a proof of
our having this righteousness imputed to us, and as a declarative evidence
of our justification in the sight of men. And then, how can the doctrine of
an imputed righteousness be a doctrine leading to licentiousness?

It is all calumny. The apostle Paul introduceth an infidel making this
objection, in his epistle to the Romans; and none but infidels, that never
felt the power of Christ's resurrection upon their souls, will urge it over
again. And therefore, notwithstanding this objection, with the Prophet in
the text, we may boldly say, "The Lord is our righteousness."

But Satan (and no wonder that his servants imitate him) often
transforms himself into an angel of light; and therefore, (such perverse
things will infidelity and Arminianism make men speak) in order to dress
their objections in the best colors, some urge, "That our Savior preached
no such doctrine; that in his sermon on the mount, he mentions only
morality:" and consequently the doctrine of an imputed righteousness falls
wholly to the ground.

But surely the men, who urge this objection, either never read, or
never understood, our Lord's blessed discourse, wherein the doctrine of an
imputed righteousness is so plainly taught, that he who runs, If he has
eyes that see, may read.

Indeed our Lord does recommend morality and good works, (as all
faithful ministers will do) and clears the moral law from many corrupt
glosses put upon it by the letter-learned Pharisees. But then, before he
comes to this, `tis remarkable, he talks of inward piety, such as poverty
of spirit, meekness, holy mourning, purity of heart, especially hungering
and thirsting after righteousness; and then recommends good works, as an
evidence of our having his righteousness imputed to us, and these graces
and divine tempers wrought in our hearts. "Let your light (that is, the
divine light I before have been mentioning) shine before men, in a holy
life; that they, seeing your good works, may glorify your father which is
in heaven." And then he immediately adds, "Think not that I am come to
destroy the moral law: I came not to destroy, (to take away the force of it
as a rule of life) but to fulfill, (to obey it in its whole latitude, and
give the complete sense of it.") And then he goes on to show how exceeding
broad the moral law is. So that our Lord, instead of setting aside an
imputed righteousness in his sermon upon the mount, not only confirms it,
but also answers the foregoing objection urged against it, by making good
works a proof and evidence of its being imputed to our souls. He,
therefore, that hath ears to hear, let him hear what the Prophet says in
the words of the text, "The Lord our righteousness."

But as Satan not only quoted scripture, but backed one temptation
after another with it, when he attacked Christ in the wilderness; so his
children generally take the same method in treating his doctrine. And,
therefore, they urge another objection against the doctrine of an imputed
righteousness, from the example of the young man in the gospel.

We may state it thus: "The Evangelist Mark, say they, chapter 10,
mentions a young man that came to Christ, running, and asking him what he
should do to inherit eternal life? Christ referred him to the commandments,
to know what he must do to inherit eternal life. It is plain, therefore,
works were to be, partly at least, the cause of his justification; and
consequently the doctrine of an imputed righteousness is unscriptural."
This is the objection in its full strength: and little strength in all its
fullness. For, was I to prove the necessity of an imputed righteousness, I
scarce know how I could bring a better instance to make it good.

Let us take a nearer view of this young man, and of our Lord's
behavior towards him, Mark 10:17, the Evangelist tells us, "That when
Christ was gone forth into the way, there came one running (it should seem
it was some nobleman; a rarity indeed to see such a one running to Christ!)
and not only so, but he kneeled to him, (perhaps many of his rank now,
scarce know the time when they kneeled to Christ) and asked him, saying,
Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?" Then Jesus,
to see whether or not he believed him to be what he really was, truly and
properly God, said unto him, "Why callest thou me good? There is none good
but one, that is God." And, that he might directly answer his question,
says he, "Thou knowest the commandments: do not commit adultery, do not
bear false witness, defraud not, honor thy father and thy mother." This was
a direct answer to his question; namely, That eternal life was not to be
attained by his doings. For our Lord, by referring him to the commandments,
did not (as the objectors insinuate) in the least hint, that his morality
would recommend him to the favor and mercy of God; but he intended thereby,
to make the law his schoolmaster to bring him to himself; that the young
man, seeing how he had broken every one of these commandments, might
thereby be convinced of the insufficiency of his own, and consequently of
the absolute necessity of looking out for a better righteousness, whereon
he might depend for eternal life.

This was what our Lord designed. The young man being self-righteous,
and willing to justify himself, said, "All these have I observed from my
youth;" but had he known himself, he would have confessed, all these have I
broken from my youth. For, supposing he had not actually committed
adultery, had he never lusted after a woman in his heart? What, if he had
not really killed another, had he never been angry without a cause, or
spoken unadvisedly with his lips? If so, by breaking one of the least
commandments in the least degree, he became liable to the curse of God: for
"cursed is he (saith the law) that continueth not to do all things that are
written in this book." And therefore, as observed before, our Lord was so
far from speaking against, that he treated the young man in that manner, on
purpose to convince him of the necessity of an imputed righteousness.

But perhaps they will reply, it is said, "Jesus beholding him, loved
him." And what then? This he might do with a human love, and at the same
time this young man have no interest in his blood. Thus Christ is said to
wonder, to weep over Jerusalem, and say, "O that thou hadst known, Me." But
such like passages are to be referred only to his human nature. And there
is a great deal of difference between the love wherewith Christ loved this
young man, and that wherewith he loved Mary, Lazarus, and their sister
Martha. To illustrate this by comparison: A minister of the Lord Jesus
Christ seeing many amiable dispositions, such as a readiness to hear the
word, a decent behavior at public worship, and a life outwardly spotless in
many, cannot but so far love them; but then there is much difference
betwixt the love which a minister feels for such, and that divine love,
that union and sympathy of soul, which he feels for those that he is
satisfied are really born again of God. Apply this to our Lord's case, as a
faint illustration of it. Consider what has been said upon the young man's
case in general, and then, if before you were fond of this objection,
instead of triumphing, like him you will go sorrowful away. Our Savior's
reply to him more and more convinces us of the truth of the prophet's
assertion in the text, that "the Lord is our righteousness."

But there is a fourth, and a grand objection yet behind, which is
taken from the 25th chapter of Matthew, "where our Lord is described as
rewarding people with eternal life, because they fed the hungry, clothed
the naked, and such-like. Their works therefore were a cause of their
justification, consequently the doctrine of imputed righteousness is not
agreeable to scripture."

This, I confess, is the most plausible objection that is brought
against the doctrine insisted on from the text; and that we may answer it
in as clear and brief a manner as may be, we confess, with the Article of
the Church of England, "That albeit good works do not justify us, yet they
will follow after justification, as fruits of it; and though they spring
from faith in Christ, and a renewed soul, they shall receive a reward of
grace, though not of debt; and consequently the more we abound in such good
works, the greater will be our reward when Jesus Christ shall come to
judgment."

Take these consideration along with us, and they will help us much to
answer the objection now before us. For thus saith Matthew, "Then shall the
King say to them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed children of my Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For
I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me
drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in; naked, and ye clothed me; I was
sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto me. I will
therefore reward you, because you have done these things out of love to me,
and hereby have evidenced yourselves to be my true disciples." And that the
people did not depend on these good actions for their justification in the
sight of God, is evident. "For when saw we thee an hungered, say they, and
fed thee? Or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and
took thee in, or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in
prison, and came unto thee?" Language, and questions, quite improper for
persons relying on their own righteousness, for acceptance and acquittance
in the sight of God.

But then they reply against thee: "In the latter part of the chapter,
it is plain that Jesus Christ rejects and damns the others for not doing
these things. And therefore, if he damns these for not doing, he saves
those for doing; and consequently the doctrine of an imputed righteousness
is good for nothing."

But that is no consequence at all; for God may justly damn any man for
omitting the least duty of the moral law, and yet in himself is not obliged
to give to any one any reward, supposing he has done all that he can. We
are unprofitable servants; we have not done near so much as it was our duty
to do, must be the language of the most holy souls living; and therefore,
from or in ourselves, cannot be justified in the sight of God. This was the
frame of the devout souls just now referred to. Sensible of this, they were
so far from depending on their works for justification in the sight of God,
that they were filled, as it were, with a holy blushing, to think our Lord
should condescend to mention, much more to reward them for, their poor
works of faith and labors of love. I am persuaded their hearts would rise
with a holy indignation against those who urge this passage, as an
objection to the assertion of the prophet, that "the Lord is our
righteousness."

Thus, I think, we have fairly answered these grand objections, which
are generally urged against the doctrine of an IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS. Was I
to stop here, I think I may say, "We are made more than conquerors through
him that loved us." But there is a way of arguing which I have always
admired, because I have thought it always very convincing, by showing the
ABSURDITIES that will follow from denying any particular proposition in
dispute.

IV. This is the next thing that was proposed. And never did greater or
more absurdities flow from the denying any doctrine, than will flow from
denying the doctrine of Christ's imputed righteousness.

And FIRST, if we deny this doctrine, we turn the truth, I mean the
word of God, as much as we can, into a lie, and utterly subvert all those
places of scripture which say that we are saved by grace; that it is not of
works, lest any man should boast, that salvation is God's free gift, and
that he who glorieth, must glory only in the Lord. For, if the whole
personal righteousness of Jesus Christ be not the sole cause of my
acceptance with God, if any work done by or foreseen in me, was in the
least to be joined with it, or looked upon by God an in inducing, impulsive
cause of acquitting my soul from guilt, then I have somewhat whereof I may
glory in myself. Not boasting is excluded in the great work of our
redemption; but that cannot be, if we are enemies to the doctrine of an
imputed righteousness. It would be endless to enumerate how many texts of
scripture must be false, if this doctrine be not true. Let it suffice to
affirm in the general, that if we deny an imputed righteousness, we may as
well deny a divine revelation all at once; for it is the alpha and omega,
the beginning and the end of the book of God. We must either disbelieve
that, or believe what the prophet has spoken in the text, "that the Lord is
our righteousness."

But further: I observed at the beginning of this discourse, that we
are all Arminians and Papists by nature; for as one says, "Arminianism is
the back way to popery." And here I venture further to affirming that if we
deny the doctrine of an imputed righteousness, whatever we may stile
ourselves, we are really Papists in our hearts; and deserve no other title
from men.

Sirs, what think you? Suppose I was to come and tell you that you must
intercede with saints, for them to intercede with God for you; would you
not say, I was justly reputed a papist missionary by some, and deservedly
thrust out of thy synagogues by others? I suppose you would. And why?
Because, you would say, the intercession of Jesus Christ was sufficient of
itself, without the intercession of saints, and that it was blasphemous to
join theirs with his, as though he was sufficient.

Suppose I went a little more round about, and told you that the death
of Christ was not sufficient, without our death being added to it; that you
must die as well as Christ, join your death with his, and then it would be
sufficient. Might you not then, with a holy indignation, throw dust in the
air, and justly call me a "setter forth of strange doctrines?" And how
then, if it be not only absurd, but blasphemous to join the intercession of
saints with the intercession of Christ, as though his intercession was not
sufficient; or our death with the death of Christ, as though his death was
not sufficient: judge ye, if it be not equally absurd, equally blasphemous,
to join our obedience, either wholly or in part, with the obedience of
Christ, as if that was not sufficient. And if so, what absurdities will
follow the denying that the Lord, both as to his active and passive
obedience, is our righteousness?

One more absurdity I shall mention, as following the denying this
doctrine, and I have done.

I remember a story of a certain prelate, who, after many arguments in
vain urged to convince the Earl of Rochester of the invisible realities of
another world, took his leave of his lordship with some such words as
these: "Well, my lord, if there be no hell, I am safe; but if there should
be such a thing as hell, what will become of you?" I apply this so those
that oppose the doctrine now insisted on. If there be no such thing as the
doctrine of an imputed righteousness, those who hold it, and bring forth
fruit unto holiness, are safe; but if there be such a thing (as there
certainly is) what will become of you that deny it? It is no difficult
matter to determine. Your portion must be in the lake of fire and brimstone
for ever and ever. Since you will rely upon your works, by your works you
shall be judged. They shall be weighed in the balance of the sanctuary; and
they will be found wanting. By your works therefore shall you be condemned;
and you, being out of Christ, shall find God, to your poor wretched souls,
a consuming fire.

The great Stoddard or Northampton in New England, has therefore well
entitled a book which he wrote (and which I would take this opportunity to
recommend) "The Safety of appearing in the Righteousness of Christ." For
why should I lean upon a broken reed, when I can have the rock of ages to
stand upon, that never can be moved?

And now, before I come to a more particular application, give me
leave, in the apostle's language, triumphantly to cry out, "Where is the
scribe, where the disputer?" Where is the reasoning infidel of this
generation? Can any thing appear more reasonable, even according to your
own way of arguing, than the doctrine here laid down? Have you not felt a
convincing power go along with the word? Why then will you not believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ, that so he may become the Lord your righteousness?

But it is time for me to come a little closer to your consciences.

Brethren, though some may be offended at this doctrine, and may
account it foolishness; yet, to many of you, I doubt not but it is
precious, it being agreeable to the form of sound words, which from your
infancy has been delivered to you; and, coming from a quarter, you would
least have expected, may be received with more pleasure and satisfaction.
But give me leave to ask you one question; Can you say, the Lord our
righteousness? I say, the Lord OUR righteousness. For entertaining this
doctrine in your heads, without receiving the Lord Jesus Christ savingly by
a lively faith into your hearts, will but increase your damnation. As I
have often told you, so I tell you again, an unapplied Christ is no Christ
at all. Can you then, with believing Thomas, cry our, "My Lord and my God?"
Is Christ your sanctification, as well as your outward righteousness? For
the word righteousness, in the text, not only implies Christ's personal
righteousness imputed to us, but also holiness wrought in us. These two,
God has joined together. He never did, he never dies, he never will put
them asunder. If you are justified by the blood, you are also sanctified by
the Spirit of our Lord. Can you then in this sense say, The Lord our
righteousness? Were you ever made to abhor yourselves for your actual and
original sins, and to loathe your own righteousness; for, as the prophet
beautifully expresses it, "your righteousness is as filthy rags? Were you
ever made to see and admire the all-sufficiency of Christ's righteousness,
and excited by the Spirit of God to hunger and thirst after it? Could you
ever say, my soul is athirst for Christ, yea, even for the righteousness of
Christ? O when shall I come to appear before the presence of my God in the
righteousness of Christ! Nothing but Christ! Nothing but Christ! Give me
Christ, O god, and I am satisfied! My soul shall praise thee for ever.

Was this ever the language of your hearts? And, after these inward
conflicts, were you ever enabled to reach out the arm of faith, and embrace
the blessed Jesus in your souls, so that you could say, "my beloved is
mine, and I am his?" If so, fear not, whoever you are. Hail, all hail, you
happy souls! The Lord, the Lord Christ, the everlasting God, is your
righteousness. Christ has justified you, who is he that condemneth you?
Christ has died for you, nay rather is risen again, and ever liveth to make
intercession for you. Being now justified by his grace, you have peace with
God, and shall, ere long, be with Jesus in glory, reaping everlasting and
unspeakable fruits both in body and soul. For there is no condemnation to
those that are really in Christ Jesus. "Whether Paul or Apollos, or life or
death, all is yours if you are Christ's, for Christ is God's. My brethren,
my heart is enlarged towards you! O think of the love of Christ in dying
for you! If the Lord be your righteousness, let the righteousness of your
Lord be continually in your mouth. Talk of, O talk of, and recommend the
righteousness of Christ, when you lie down, and when you rise up, at your
going out and coming in! Think of the greatness of the gift, as well as the
giver! Show to all the world, in whom you have believed! Let all by your
fruits know, that the Lord is your righteousness, and that you are waiting
for your Lord from heaven! O study to be holy, even as he who has called
you, and washed you in his own blood, is holy! Let not the righteousness of
the Lord be evil spoken of through you. Let not Jesus be wounded in the
house of his friends, but grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ, day by day. O think of his dying love! Let that
love constrain you to obedience! Having much forgiven, love much. Be always
asking, What shall I do, to express my gratitude to the Lord, for giving me
his righteousness? Let that self-abasing, God-exalting question be always
in your mouths; "Why me, Lord? Why me?" why am I taken, and others left?
Why is the Lord my righteousness? Why is he become my salvation, who have
so often deserved damnation at his hands?

My friends, I trust I feel somewhat of a sense of God's distinguishing
love upon my heart; therefore I must divert a little from congratulating
you, to invite poor Christless sinners to come to him, and accept of his
righteousness, that they may have life.

Alas, my heart almost bleeds! What a multitude of precious souls are
now before me! How shortly must all be ushered into eternity! And yet, O
cutting thought! Was God now to require all your souls, how few,
comparatively speaking, could really say, the Lord our righteousness!

And think you, O sinner, that you will be able to stand in the day of
judgment, if Christ be not your righteousness? No, that alone is the
wedding garment in which you must appear. O Christless sinners, I am
distressed for you! The desires of my soul are enlarged. O that this may be
an accepted time! That the Lord may be your righteousness! For whither
would you flee, if death should fine you naked? Indeed there is no hiding
yourselves from his presence. The pitiful fig-leaves of your own
righteousness will not cover your nakedness, when God shall call you to
stand before him. Adam found them ineffectual, and so will you. O think of
death! O think of judgment! Yet a little while, and time shall be no more;
and then what will become of you, if the Lord be not your righteousness?
Think you that Christ will spare you? No, he that formed you, will have no
mercy on you. If you are not of Christ, if Christ be not your
righteousness, Christ himself shall pronounce you damned. And can you bear
to think of being damned by Christ? Can you bear to hear the Lord Jesus say
to you, "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the
devil and his angels." Can you live, think you, in everlasting burnings? Is
your flesh brass, and your bones iron? What if they are? Hell-fire, that
fire prepared for the devil and his angels, will heat them through and
through. And can you bear to depart from Christ? O that heart-piercing
thought! Ask those holy souls, who are at any time bewailing an absent God,
who walk in darkness, and see no light, though but a few days or hours; ask
them, what it is to lose a light and presence of Christ? See how they seek
him sorrowing, and go mourning after him all the day long! And, if it is so
dreadful to lose the sensible presence of Christ only for a day, what must
it be to be banished from him to all eternity!

But thus it must be, if Christ be not your righteousness. For God's
justice must be satisfied; and, unless Christ's righteousness is imputed
and applied to you here, you must hereafter be satisfying the divine
justice in hell-torments eternally; nay, Christ himself shall condemn you
to that place of torment. And how cutting is that thought! Methinks I see
poor, trembling, Christless wretches, standing before the bar of god,
crying out, Lord, if we must be damned, let some angel, or some archangel,
pronounce the damnatory sentence: but all in vain. Christ himself shall
pronounce the irrevocable sentence. Knowing therefore the terrors of the
Lord, let me persuade you to close with Christ, and never rest till you can
say, "the Lord our righteousness." Who knows but the Lord may have mercy
on, may, abundantly pardon you? Beg of God to give you faith; and, if the
Lord gives you that, you will by it receive Christ, with his righteousness,
and his All. You need not fear the greatness or number of your sins. For
are you sinners? So am I. Are you the chief of sinners? So am I. Are you
backsliding sinners? So am I. And yet the Lord (for ever adored be his
rich, free and sovereign grace) the Lord is my righteousness. Come then, O
young man, who (as I acted once myself) are playing the prodigal, and
wandering away afar off from your heavenly Father's house, come home, come
home, and leave your swines trough. Feed no longer on the husks of sensual
delights: for Christ's sake arise, and come home! Your heavenly Father now
calls you. See yonder the best robe, even the righteousness of his dear
Son, awaits you. See it, view it again and again. Consider at how dear a
rate it was purchased, even by the blood of God. Consider what great need
you have of it. You are lost, undone, damned for ever, without it. Come
then, poor, guilty prodigals, come home: indeed, I will not, like the elder
brother in the gospel, be angry; no, I will rejoice with the angels in
heaven. And O that God would now bow the heavens, and come down! Descend, O
Son of God, descend; and, as thou hast shown in me such mercy, O let thy
blessed Spirit apply thy righteousness to some young prodigals now before
thee, and clothe their naked souls with thy best robe!

But I must speak a word to you, young maidens, as well as young men. I
see many of you adorned, as to your bodies, but are not your souls naked?
Which of you can say, the Lord is my righteousness? Which of you was ever
solicitous to be dressed in this robe of invaluable price, and without
which you are no better than whited sepulchers in the sight of God? Let not
then so many of you, young maidens, any longer forget your chief and only
ornament. O seek for the Lord to be your righteousness, or otherwise
burning will soon be upon you, instead of beauty!

And what shall I say to you of a middle age, you busy merchants, you
cumbered Martha's, who, with all your gettings, have not yet gotten the
Lord to be your righteousness? Alas! what profit will there be of all your
labor under the sun, if you do not secure this pearl of invaluable price?
This one thing, so absolutely needful, that it only can stand you in stead,
when all other things shall be taken from you. Labor therefore no longer so
anxiously for the meat which perisheth, but henceforward seek for the Lord
to be your righteousness, a righteousness that will entitle you to life
everlasting. I see also many hoary heads here, and perhaps the most of them
cannot say, the Lord is my righteousness. O gray-headed sinner, I could
weep over you! Your gray hairs, which ought to be your crown, and in which
perhaps you glory, are now your shame. You know not that the Lord is your
righteousness: O haste then, haste ye, aged sinners, and seek an interest
in redeeming love! Alas, you have one foot already in the grave, your glass
is just run out, your sun is just going down, and it will set and leave you
in an eternal darkness, unless the Lord be your righteousness! Flee then, O
flee for your lives! Be not afraid. All things are possible with God. If
you come, though it be at the eleventh hour, Christ Jesus will in no wise
cast you out. Seek then for the Lord to be your righteousness, and beseech
him to let you know, how it is that a man may be born again when he is old!
But I must not forget the lambs of the flock. To feed them was one of my
Lord's last commands. I know he will be angry with me, if I do not tell
them, that the Lord may be their righteousness; and that of such is the
kingdom of heaven. Come then, ye little children, come to Christ; the Lord
Christ shall be your righteousness. Do not think, that you are too young to
be converted. Perhaps many of you may be nine or ten years old, and yet
cannot say, the Lord is our righteousness: which many have said, though
younger than you. Come then, while you are young. Perhaps you may not live
to be old. Do not stay for other people. If your fathers and mothers will
not come to Christ, do you come without them. Let children lead them, and
show them how the Lord may be their righteousness. Our Lord Jesus Christ
loved little children. You are his lambs; he bids me feed you. I pray God
make you willing betimes to take the Lord for your righteousness.

Here then I could conclude; but I must not forget the poor negroes;
no, I must not. Jesus Christ had died for them, as well as for others. Nor
do I mention you last, because I despise your souls; but because I would
have what I shall say, make the deeper impression upon your hearts. O that
you would seek the Lord to be your righteousness! Who knows but he may be
found of you? For in Jesus Christ there is neither male nor female, bond
nor free; even you may be the children of God, if you believe in Jesus. Did
you never read of the eunuch belonging to the queen of Candace? A negro
like yourselves. He believed. The Lord was his righteousness. He was
baptized. Do you also believe, and you shall be saved. Christ Jesus is the
same now as he was yesterday, and will wash you in his own blood. Go home
then, turn the words of the text into a prayer, and entreat the Lord to be
your righteousness. Even so, come Lord Jesus, come quickly, into all our
souls! Amen, Lord Jesus, Amen and Amen!